This invention is directed generally to television displays, and particularly to a system for remotely controlling the operation of a television monitor.
Modern technology has produced a number of products such as video disk players, video cassette players and the like which develop video signals. All such signals may be used to generate corresponding video images on one or more television monitors which may be located at a spot remote from the source of video signals.
In some instances, it is desirable to switch the monitor's source of video signals from a video disk player to a cassette player, for example, or to any other source of video signals. When such a switch is made, the video signals from the second video source may vary from those provided by the first video source such that a change in hue is experienced in the image which is reproduced by the monitor. Brightness, contrast, and other changes may also result when the video input to the monitor changes.
Conventionally, each monitor includes user-operated controls for adjusting the hue, brightness and other variables associated with the reproduced images. However, it is frequently inconvenient for a user to physically adjust all the controls associated with each monitor whenever the source of video signals is changed. Consequently, it is desirable for a user to be able to remotely adjust each monitor whenever such adjustment is needed, particularly when the source of video signals is changed.
Conventional television technology does not presently offer a reliable and inexpensive way for a user to remotely adjust the images reproduced by television monitors. In other arts, such as remotely-controlled airplanes, an encoder is used for sending a plurality of control pulses to a decoder aboard the airplane. Each control pulse carries information to adjust one of the airplane's control functions. However, because the pulses received by the decoder do not occur at a constant rate, their decoding in a television environment would require more complex and expensive circuitry than is desirable.